Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has released an open letter detailing what he describes as “serial executive and judicial fraud” since his extraordinary rendition in 2021.
In the letter dated February 14, 2025, Kanu outlines five key points of contention with Nigeria’s judicial system, beginning with a 2017 Federal High Court Abuja ruling that declared The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) not an unlawful group. He alleges that former Attorney-General Abubakar Malami and late Abba Kyari circumvented proper legal channels to later proscribe IPOB through ex parte proceedings.
Kanu references an October 26, 2022 Federal High Court declaration that deemed his rendition and detention unconstitutional. The court had ordered the federal government to apologize and compensate him for violations of his fundamental rights.
Further citing an October 13, 2022 Court of Appeal ruling, Kanu details how the court found his rendition from Kenya violated international and state laws. He claims the government refused to comply with this judgment, instead obtaining a “stay of execution” through what he terms questionable means.
The IPOB leader also points to a December 15, 2023, Supreme Court decision that found his bail revocation improper and highlighted judicial bias. Despite this, Kanu states his bail was not restored.
In his final point, Kanu describes events from September 24, 2024, where a judge recused herself from his case. He alleges that instead of reassigning his case to a new judge, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court sent it back to the same recused judge.
Kanu concludes by asserting he will not participate in any trial that fails to meet constitutional standards, stating he would rather remain in detention than face what he considers an unfair judicial process.
Stay tuned to Newspot Nigeria for updates on this developing news.
Video Credit: CHANNELS and TVC
OPEN LETTER TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC
By: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
Greetings to all men and women of goodwill in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world.
I have been compelled by the events of the past few days to take the unusual step of writing this Open Letter for the singular purpose of calling the attention of the general public to the serial executive and judicial fraud being perpetrated against me since my extraordinary rendition in 2021. The details are as follows:
- 1, In a judgment entered on 1st March 2017, the Federal High Court Abuja ruled that the “IPOB is not an unlawful group”. At the time, it received widespread publicity which can be verified from: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/03/kanu-ipob-not-unlawful-group-court/amp/. This landmark ruling (made by the court before it turned unjust) emanated in a criminal proceeding that required “proof beyond reasonable doubt” and in which the federal government and my humble self presented our respective cases. Alas! Instead of the federal government going on appeal as the law mandated (if they were dissatisfied with the judgment), the former Attorney-General (Abubakar Malami) went behind closed doors with a letter signed by late Abba Kyari and got IPOB proscribed/tagged a terrorist group in an ex parte proceedings conducted without notice to me or the IPOB. This abominable incident was the earliest sign yet that the government and its judiciary have struck an unholy and fraudulent alliance to deny me my rights and thereby imperil the lives and liberty of millions who identify with IPOB.
- 2. On 26th October 2022, a Federal High Court declared my extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional, stating that: “the manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents, the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)”. The Court further ordered the federal government to apologize to me and pay me compensation. In a responsible and well-ordered society, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encourage the federal government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga.
- 3. Pedal back to 13th October 2022 when the Court of Appeal held that: “The Courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of “executive lawlessness”. The Courts must maintain a balance between ensuring that law and order are obeyed and the protection of the individual from oppressive actions by the executive. By the forcible abduction and extraordinary rendition of the Appellant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) from Kenya to this country on the 27th day of June 2021, in violation of international and state laws, the lower Court or indeed any Court in this country is divested of jurisdiction to entertain charges against the Appellant”. Despite the clarity of this judgment and its comportment with reason, the federal government refused to release me from detention while it went behind closed doors and connived with three other justices of the court of appeal who fraudulently and swiftly sat on appeal over the judgment and practically destroyed it by issuing what they termed “a stay of execution”. One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed? In a plethora of cases, the Supreme Court has held that anybody who disobeys a related court order cannot be given any judicial relief until such an order is obeyed. This is a sound reasoning that applies to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case.
- 4, Fast forward to 15th December 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial. For the avoidance of doubt, that was not the only decision the Supreme Court made. It also decided that my bail should not have been revoked and it went on to state clearly that the judge exhibited significant and unacceptable bias by revoking my bail. In a sane society, one would expect that when the High Court received my case from the Supreme Court and hankered down for trial, it was also duty-bound to restore my bail in line with the pronouncement of the apex court. But that did not happen. Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine and that is: the Court connived with the federal government to continue my detention in violation of Section 287 of the Nigerian Constitution while they plotted to railroad me through an unfair trial that already has a predetermined verdict.
- 5, On 24th September 2024, I decided that I had had enough of taking my chances at getting justice from a judge that, in June 2021, sent me to secret police detention without a fair hearing, later refused to transfer me to prison to better prepare for my trial and capped it all by refusing to restore my bail and instead ordered an accelerated trial in the face of the reality that I will never get a fair trial whilst detained at the DSS. These are the major reasons that compelled me to request recusal of the judge and having consented to it, she proceeded to make an order removing herself from my case. That order was never challenged on appeal; thus it remains extant to this day. But instead of the Chief judge of the Federal High Court doing the lawful thing by assigning my case to another judge, he connived with the federal government to eat crow and send my case to a judge who stands recused by a valid order.
To conclude this Open Letter, let me make it clear that it should in no way be construed to mean that there are no decent judges in Nigeria who can be trusted to deliver even-handed justice in my case. That is not the issue. Instead, the issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices who are deemed to be committed to doing justice even when it means that the federal government must lose. Be that as it may, if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it. But let me say this for the world to know: I will not succumb to any trial conducted by any judge or court whose jurisdiction does not pass constitutional muster. Not now, not ever.
Thank you all.
Signed:
Maazị Nnamdị Kanụ
Dated: 14th February, 2025.
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